A passenger jet drove off a runway at a South Korean airport on Sunday, colliding with a concrete barrier and bursting into flames after its front landing gear allegedly failed to deploy. All but two of the 181 passengers on board perished in one of the country's deadliest aviation catastrophes.
The Jeju Air jet crashed during landing in Muan, some 180 miles south of Seoul. The Transport Ministry stated the plane was a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 that had arrived from Bangkok and crashed at 9:03 a.m.
According to the South Korean fire department, the fire killed 179 individuals, including 85 women, 84 males, and 10 others whose genders were not immediately identified. Emergency workers rescued two persons, both crew members. According to health professionals, they are cognizant and in no danger of dying.
88 of the 177 corpses discovered so far have been identified, according to the fire service. The majority of the passengers were South Korean, with two Thai nationals among them. Thailand's Foreign Ministry stated its embassy in Seoul got confirmation from South Korean officials that the two Thai passengers were among those killed.
The fire department dispatched 32 fire vehicles and numerous helicopters to put out the fire. According to reports, around 1,560 firemen, police officers, troops, and other authorities were dispatched to the scene.
YTN television footage of the disaster showed the Jeju Air jet sliding across the airstrip, seemingly with its landing gear still locked, before smashing head-on into a concrete wall on the facility's perimeter. Other local television stations showed pictures of large plumes of black smoke pouring from the burning airliner.
Lee Jeong-hyeon, head of the Muan fire station, told a television briefing that the jet had been fully destroyed, with just the tail assembly visible among the wreckage.
Officials from the Transport Ministry later stated that their first review of communication records revealed that the airport control tower provided a bird strike warning to the jet just before it intended to arrive and granted its pilot clearance to land in a different area. The pilot issued a distress call immediately before the jet left the runway and slid over a buffer zone before colliding with the wall, according to officials.
According to Senior Transport Ministry official Joo Jong-wan, workers have extracted the flight data and cockpit voice recorders from the plane's black box, which will be inspected by government specialists probing the cause of the accident and fire. Joo stated that the runway at Muan Airport will be blocked until January 1.
Muan emergency personnel said that the plane's landing gear looked to be malfunctioning.
The Transport Ministry stated that the plane's occupants include two Thai nationals.
In a statement on social media site X, Thailand's Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra extended his heartfelt sympathies to the families of those impacted by the disaster. Paetongtarn stated that she has directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to give prompt help.
Kerati Kijmanawat, the director of Thailand's Airports, stated in a statement that Jeju Air flight 7C 2216 left from Suvarnabhumi Airport with no reports of abnormal circumstances on the aircraft or the runway.
Jeju Air issued a statement expressing its "deep apology" for the crash and stating that it will do its "utmost to manage the aftermath of the accident." In a televised news conference, Jeju Air's president, Kim E-bae, deeply bowed with other senior company officials as he apologized to bereaved families and said he accepts "full responsibility" for the incident. Kim stated that the business had found no technical faults with the aircraft during normal examinations and that he would await the results of official inquiries into the reason of the tragedy.
Boeing said in a statement on X it was in contact with Jeju Air and is ready to support the company in dealing with the crash.
“We extend our deepest condolences to the families who lost loved ones, and our thoughts remain with the passengers and crew,” Boeing said.
Hours after the disaster, family members gathered in the airport's arrival area, some sobbing and hugging, while Red Cross workers distributed blankets.
Families yelled and wailed as a physician gave the names of victims identified by fingerprints. Papers were distributed for families to jot down their contact information.
One relative stood at a microphone to ask for more information from authorities. “My older brother died and I don’t know what’s going on,” he said. “I don’t know.”
Another asked journalists not to film. “We are not monkeys in a zoo,” he said. “We are the bereaved families.”
Mortuary cars queued up outside to transport remains, and officials reported a makeshift morgue had been erected.
According to Reuters witnesses, the crash scene smelled of aviation fuel and blood, and workers wearing protective gear and masks combed the area while military looked through the undergrowth.
According to News1, a passenger texted a relative to report that a bird had been entangled in the wing. The person's final message read, "Should I utter my last words?"
The transport ministry stated that the aircraft was produced in 2009.
CFM International, a joint venture between GE Aerospace and France's Safran, built the two CFM56-7B26 engines, according to the transportation ministry.
A CFM official stated, "We are terribly sorry by the death of Jeju Air Flight 2216. We send our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of everyone on board."
